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White Paper Cuts - 2005/06

This campaign led to an effective 'stalemate'. UCL managed to "disestablish" almost exactly half - 167 posts - by "voluntary" means. College ended the process without pursuing compulsory redundancies. However many of the themes of this restructuring continue to this day, such as the demand on lecturing staff to demonstrate their value to UCL by generating research income. 

No to 15% job cuts - Defend Higher Education

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The Provost and Senior Management Team of UCL have decided that "staff numbers must be reduced". They want to cut 15% of teaching and support staff. Lecturers, technicians, administrators and clerical staff all face losing their jobs over the next three years.

This would pass the costs of past mismanagement onto hard-working staff, increase staff workloads, and lower staff morale. In this climate differences of academic opinion and even choice of research topic are becoming reasons to ask staff to "consider their position".

Some will leave because they refuse to work in this environment. Some will be sacked. Academic teams are being divided. Teaching quality cannot be guaranteed.

  • In a poll carried out by the UCU of UCL senior staff, two thirds said that the cuts would damage the quality of teaching at UCL.

But the underfunding of education will not be solved by cutting jobs.

  • UCL's Previous Provost, Derek Roberts, famously admitted that tuition fees were clawed back by cuts in state support.

Why are they doing this?

UCL Provost Malcolm Grant says that UCL's financial position is "dire" and that we are losing £7 million per year. But this is £7m out of a turnover of £500m, i.e. 1.4%. This cannot justify a cut in teaching and support staff of 15%.

In his White Paper he asserts that UCL must position itself as a leading competitor for high fee-paying overseas students. To compete, UCL must build up a surplus, hence the plan to sack staff to become "leaner and fitter". There are many reasons why this may not work and prove hugely counterproductive. But it is entirely a separate issue from tackling the deficit.

How can we stop the cuts?

This is not the first time that UCL management has tried to cut staff numbers or drastically reshape UCL at the expense of staff and students. Previous plans to cut staff or merge UCL were stopped when staff and students campaigned together. We need to do this again by building up a groundswell of staff and students against the whole programme of cuts.

What can I do?

  1. Sign the joint union petition against the cuts. Take the petition around your department (download as PDF). If you are a student, ask fellow students to sign. Staff should approach colleagues to sign, whether they are in a union or not (but do ask them to join). Put up a poster on your door or department noticeboard.
  2. Join the action group. Students and staff are welcome to add email addresses to the mailing list. We are setting up regular meetings to gather information about what is happening in departments, build the campaign and support each other.

If you are a staff member:

  1. Challenge the process. Staff are entitled to know if information being collected would lead to their dismissal. If you are being invited to consider leaving UCL, it is crucial you know your rights. Contact your union for help.
  2. Cuts of this magnitude affect teaching provision. Staff and students have a common interest in challenging any cut. Academic teams have to make collective decisions about how a course is provided. The workload of anyone who leaves will have to be covered. So if anyone is threatened in your department, we all have to defend them.
  3. Organise a meeting in your department. If you are a staff member, ask for a trade union speaker at a staff meeting, or set up a local union meeting. Many people find it difficult to come to centrally organised meetings but they need support.

If you are a student:

  1. Defend your own education. Ask your Head of Department to guarantee that your course will not be affected. Ask other students to do the same. Speak to Student Representatives and the Student Union, and ask them to press for guarantees. UCL has accepted you as a student and you have rights that can be legally enforced.

Meeting report, 13 June 2005

The UCLUCU emergency general meeting on 13 June, called to discuss the proposed staff cuts, was attended by approximately 100 members.

It was reported that according to information supplied to the UCLUCU Executive Committee from a number of sources (including several HoDs) there was general confirmation that College management was proposing 15% staff cuts. 

In the discussion points made by members included: 

  • This 15% proposed staff reduction was an arbitrary figure, a point confirmed by reports that individual depts had been told they must make this percentage reduction in staff regardless of their departmental deficit.
  • UCLUCU members would not necessarily disagree with some of the stated aims of the White Paper. However, the method of pursuing these aims must be opposed because it was intended to achieve them without staff backing.
  • Members should make common cause with students over this issue since the proposals if enacted would significantly devalue their educational experience.
  • The planned internal panels for quality review were based on the idea that any restructuring at UCL should occur in a rational manner. However, the White Paper was contradictory in this respect as management appear now to be asking to be given a free hand. 
  • A "business" model was inappropriate for an academic institution such as UCL.
  • Members of UCL Council should be approached individually so that the ramifications of the White Paper proposals could be explained to them.

Motion

The following motion was passed unanimously: 
 

ONCE MORE IT IS THE STAFF WHO ARE BEING ASKED TO BEAR THE BURDEN OF STRUCTURAL UNDERFUNDING AND MANAGERIAL INCOMPETENCE: 

  1. This Association resolves to call its members to attend a lobby of College Council on 16th June to demonstrate as forcefully as possible our opposition to the threat of enforced job losses among staff - academic and academic related.
  2. We fear that the system of staff appraisal is being turned into something that it was never intended to be, namely a way of singling out members of staff for dismissal (see HR Staff Review and Development Scheme). The White Paper - One Year On document contains many implied threats and is another step to commodification of our University - eg 2(1)&(2) - increase research and cut staff; 6(1) - the imposition of a contractual 'expectation', without negotiation; 8 and 9 - 'rationalisation' of teaching and 'generic undergraduate programmes'; greater use of College Teachers (teaching only contracts). And much else... We therefore call on all our members, especially HoDs, to refuse cooperate in filling in the staff evaluation form at the end of the White Paper document. 
  3. This Association resolves to call together all available Departmental Reps and others willing to attend, to exchange information and advice, and to set up an Action Committee to resist this attack on UCL staff.

Proposed: George Paizis, French
Seconded: Robin Hirsch, Computer Science

This motion was passed unanimously with no abstentions.

A request was also made to the Executive Committee to re-institute the UCLUCU E-mail Forum to provide a critical platform for members to debate the issues involved (as during the aborted merger with Imperial) and to share information with colleagues concerning the details of the current proposals.